Presto!!! Pasta and Pesto!

Pasta and pesto is one of my favorite "go to" meals.  Not only does it taste great, it's quick and easy! It's REALLY quick and easy if you have some pesto on hand - which I normally do thanks to my garden:)

The formula?   Cook pasta, add pesto, top with cheese.  

Now because I really can't do anything simple, (story of my life!) I added a little to this one today.  I knew I had some frozen pesto in the freezer, but I also had some spinach I wanted to use up so I knew what I wanted to do.

Let me talk just a minute about the pesto.  Making your own pesto is really easy (I'll save this for another day) but the best thing - it freezes great.  I have my own garden and patio and I always have 2-3 basil plants for this express purpose.  Throughout the summer I pick basil and make small batches of pesto and then freeze them in sandwich bags.  Then whenever I need some pesto, I've got it on hand.

OK back to the pasta.  Provided you have your pesto pre-made, go ahead and get your pasta water going on the stove and cook your pasta.  As with almost all my recipes it seems, I started with diced onion and garlic in some olive oil.  Cook these over a medium low heat until translucent.  I added just a few red pepper flakes. At this point, you could easily skip to adding the pesto but today I decided to add some anchovy paste.  Anchovies add a great saltiness to the dish and unlike what you may think...it doesn't make your dish taste like fish:)  As mentioned, you can easily leave this step out.  I added about 1 tsp of anchovy paste and stirred it about with my onion for a minute or so.  At this point, I would taste it to determine if you need salt and pepper.  The anchovy paste is pretty salty, so I wouldn't add it unless your personal taste requires it:)

Tip:  Anchovy paste may not be the easiest thing to find so 2 small anchovy filets = 1/2 teaspoon.

Once the onion mixture was ready I added my pesto.  Today, it was probably 2/3 cup.  But it again, it's a matter of preference.  Sometimes I want A LOT of pesto...other days I want just enough to lightly coat my pasta.  Today I didn't go with to much because I knew I had a lot of other things going on in the pasta - my onion mixture and my spinach primarily.  Make sure the pesto is incorporated well with the onion mixture and then add the spinach.  I'd start with about 2 cups of coarsely chopped spinach.  Stir this well and cook for about 30 seconds to a minute.  It really depends on how you like your spinach.  In the above recipe, you can see I didn't cook my spinach too long because it's still holding its shape pretty good.  However, if you like more wilted spinach (some days I do!!) cook the pesto/spinach mixture just a bit longer.

Once my pasta was ready I ladled it out of the pasta water and directly into my skillet.  Don't drain it, ladle it into the skillet.  (With a pasta ladle mind, you....not the regular kind...thought I better mention that!! :)The starch from the pasta and the little bit of water will enhance your pasta.  To top if off - I grated some Parmesan cheese and topped it with some lemon zest.  The lemon zest just gives it a little pop of freshness when you take a bite.

The great thing about this recipe is that you can easily tweak it to suit your personal taste preference.  Want more onions?  Add them.  More spinach? Add it! No chili flakes? Fine!  There's no hard line recipe to follow here, which is what I love about it.

And there it is...Presto!  Pasta and Pesto!

Not Your Everyday Pasta....

Being that I find myself in a position to consider all carbs to be evil pound-inducing tools of the devil (is that too harsh?? :) I try - mind you I don't always succeed - but I do try to avoid them.  However...and a very big however we do find ourselves in the midst of the 2011 Atlanta winter storm --- so guess what?  We eat what we got and today....it's pasta!

I decided an everyday run-of-the-mill pasta wasn't going to cut it, so the fridge comes open and I go on a hunt.  What rabbit can I pull out of my hat on this one?  What ingredients do I have that would produce this super-fantastic winter pasta?  The result:  Butternut squash, onions, swiss chard.  Done!

Pasta truly has endless possibilities, but you really have to get out of the "marinara" state of mind to really get that.  Gone are the days are canned pasta sauces; here are the days of well...pretty much what you want.

So while we're on pasta - let's chat about actually cooking it.  Here are some guidelines when actually cooking your pasta:

• Water to Pasta Ratio.  The rule of thumb is 5-6 quarts of water for each pound of pasta.  Bottom line: think lots of water.  Not having enough water will cause the pasta to stick and uneven cooking. 

• To Add Oil or Not to Add Oil?  NO!!  If you've got plenty of water, you don't need oil.  

• To Add Salt or Not to Add Salt?  YES!!  I generally throw a small handful in; but the rule is 1 TBSP for every quart.  Seems a bit much to me; but you're not consuming the stock so don't worry about the sodium content.  

• To Rinse or not to Rinse?  NO!!  I never, ever rinse my pasta.  The starch that attaches itself to the pasta helps make a great sauce!  I don't even DRAIN my pasta....I use a pasta ladle to fetch it out to retain as much of the starch as possible.  

•  When is it done?  How do you know how long to cook it?  Well - matter of choice here really.  I like my pasta just past the al dente (firm but not hard) stage.  The best thing I've heard about testing the pasta - throw it against a pan, a wall - whatever - is to simply taste it:)  Know that even once you remove the pasta from the water, it will continue to cook slightly.  To me - overcooked pasta is a mushy, horrible mess.  So I'd be safe, not sorry:)

• Add the Sauce to the Pasta or the Pasta to the Sauce?  My choice here is to add the pasta to the sauce.  The extra heat from the sauce in the pan will help infuse the flavors throughout the pasta and help coat the pasta - especially if you're using pasta shapes that "hold" sauce.  (shells, etc) 

OK - on to our creation...

Our Dish:  Penne with Butternut Squash and Swiss Chard

1. Preheat the oven to 350'ish.
2. Food Prep.  Squash, Onions, Garlic, Swiss Chard (see below) 
3. Peel a butternut squash; cut in half and then cut it into 1/2 inch cubes.
4. Put the squash into a large bowl; drizzle with olive oil; add s/p, 1/2 tsp of freshly grated nutmeg; 1/2 tsp of cinnamon.  (Vary these amounts if you have a large squash.) Toss the squash to ensure all cubes are well coated. Spread the squash on a cookie sheet and roast until a fork pierces the squash easily, but not mushy.  Do NOT overcook it - err to the side of a little undercooked than overcooked here.  Remove the squash when finished; set aside.
5. Start your pasta.
6. Saute some finely sliced onions and garlic in a mixture of olive oil and butter.  Add s/p. Key here is to do this on medium-low heat.  If the heat is to high your onions will not caramelize; they'll burn.  Constantly stir the onions to ensure even browning.  
7. Remove the stems from the swiss chard, finely dice and add to your onion mixture.  Coarsely chop the green leaves of the chard and set aside.
8. Once you can see your pasta is about 5min from being done; toss your squash in with your onion mixture and stir to incorporate; add the green leaves of the chard and cook for about 1 min or so -- just enough to wilt it.
9. Add about 1/4 to 1/2 cup of chicken stock to get all your ingredients incorporated and reduced down nicely.  Ladle in your pasta to the vegetables and toss.  Top with Parmesan :)

Keep in mind, this ain't no marinara pasta:)  This dish is savory and the nutmeg and cinnamon just make it.  (Another alternative here is fresh sage)  Allow this dish to sit overnight and it's even better the next day.  Keep in mind when re-heating you may need to add some chicken stock to it just to give it a little more "sauce".

So there ya go ---- enjoy:)  I am!